332 RHAMNUS 



R. DAVURICA, Pallas. DAHURIAN BUCKTHORN. 



A deciduous shrub or small tree, ultimately 30 ft. high ; young branchlets 

 smooth ; lateral twigs sometimes thorn-tipped. Leaves alternate or often 

 nearly opposite ; oblong or oval, tapering at the base, slender-pointed, finely 

 toothed, i-J to 4 ins. long, |- to \\ ins. wide ; smooth or somewhat downy 

 beneath ; veins in four to six pairs, converging towards the apex ; stalk 

 slender, to I in. long. Flowers produced from the lower joints of the young 

 shoots in June, forming dense clusters. Fruit black, about \ in. diameter. 



Native of Siberia, Manchuria, and N. China, very closely allied to R. 

 cathartica. It does not differ from that species in flower or fruit, but its 

 leaves are longer, uniformly wedge-shaped at the base, and with one or two 

 more pairs of veins. Of little garden value except in rough shrubberies. 



R. FALLAX, Boissier. CARNiOLiAN BUCKTHORN. 



(R. alpina var. grandifolia, HorL; R. carniolica, fCerner.") 



A deciduous shrub, 4 to 10 ft. high, of stiff habit ; young shoots smooth. 

 Leaves oval or somewhat ovate, heart-shaped or rounded at the base, shortly 

 tapered at the apex, finely and regularly toothed ; i^ to 5^ ins. long, i to 3^ 

 ins. wide ; dark green and smooth except for minute tufts of hairs in the 

 vein-axils beneath ; veins parallel, in from twelve to over twenty pairs ; stalks 

 J to f in. long, downy when young on the upper side. Flowers yellowish 

 green, produced in clusters from the leaf-axils and joints near the base of the 

 current year's shoots ; petals and stamens four ; stalk % in. or less long. Fruit 

 black, in. across. 



Native of the Alps of S.E. Europe ; much confused in gardens with 

 R. ALPINA, Linn&uS) a species with a more western distribution (S. France, 

 Spain, and the West Mediterranean region), with fewer (nine to twelve) pairs 

 of veins and proportionately longer leaf-stalks. It is also allied to R. imeretina 

 (g.v.\ which differs in the leaves being very downy beneath but equally many- 

 veined. R. fallax and R. imeretina are the most handsome-foliaged of 

 deciduous buckthorns. 



R. FRANGULA, Linnaus. ALDER BUCKTHORN. 



A deciduous shrub, or a small tree up to 15 or 18 ft. high ; young shoots 

 downy. Leaves oval or obovate, I to 3 ins. long, scarcely half as wide ; 

 wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, often with a short abrupt point, not 

 toothed ; dark glossy green and smooth above, paler and often somewhat 

 downy beneath ; veins parallel, usually in eight or nine pairs ; stalk \ to \ in. 

 long. Flowers clustered two to five together in the leaf-axils of the young 

 shoots, bisexual, the parts in fives ; calyx and flower-stalk smooth. Fruit at 

 first changing from green to red, then to dark purple, j in. across, roundish, 

 two-seeded. 



Native of Europe, including the south of Britain. It is a rather handsome 

 small fruiting tree with foliage of a cheerful green. Under the name of 

 " dogwood " its wood is used (as charcoal) in the manufacture of the finest 

 gunpowders. The bark has purgative properties. 



Var. ANGUSTIFOLIA has narrowly oblong or oblanceolate leaves, from 

 \ to i in. wide, the margins uneven or jagged. 



Var. ASPLENIFOLIA. A remarkable form with leaves as long as in the type, 

 but only from =% to ^ in. wide as a rule. 



Var. LATIFOLIA, Dipped found in the Caucasian region, has larger, broader 



